Hat-trick of awards for Cosgrove

Leicestershire CCC Club Captain Mark Cosgrove rounded off a tremendous season by scooping three awards at the club’s annual End of Season Dinner.

Cosgrove was named as Leicestershire’s Cricketer of the Year, won the Livingston Cup for Batting for the second season in a row, and also took the honour for being the club’s best Specsavers County Championship player.

The awards were won following a terrific season for Cosgrove, who was the leading Specsavers County Championship scorer with 1,279 runs at an average of 49.19, including five centuries.

As well as leading the side to four victories, the 32-year-old was also the second top run-scorer in both the NatWest T20 Blast and Royal London One-Day Cup.

Clint McKay landed the Frank S Smith Cup for bowling in the First XI for a second season in succession, which was due reward in a campaign where he claimed 56 Specsavers County Championship wickets in 14  games at a terrific average of 22.50.

The Victorian also took 13 wickets in NatWest T20 Blast, ensuring he took the club’s inaugural Twenty20 Player Of The Year.

Batsman Ned Eckersley won the John Josephs Award for best individual performance in a first XI match after making two hundreds against Derbyshire.

In the process, Eckersley became only the second batsman in Leicestershire’s history to score two centuries in a match on more than one occasion, and then went on to post a third three-figure score in as many innings at Northamptonshire.

Lewis Hill won Roger Goadby’s Fielding Award after a series of fine performances in the field and behind the stumps. One catch particularly stands out in the memory where Hill turned from behind the stumps in a NatWest T20 Blast game against Derbyshire, to run towards the boundary edge and dive to claim the ball.

There were some new awards handed out this year, including Rob Sayer as the club’s Young Player Of The Year after another season of development.

Individual awards were presented for outstanding performance in the three individual formats, with a number of nominees eventually narrowed down. Kevin O’Brien was named as the One-Day Player Of The Year to go along with Cosgrove (County Championship) and McKay (Twenty20).

The final award, the much coveted Players’ Player Of The Year, had a change of criteria in 2016. Players voted for the teammate they thought best upheld the values of the club both through performance on the field and the way they conducted themselves off it.

Leicestershire CCC has four predominant values – pride, courage, inspire and selfless – and Ollie Freckingham was voted for by his peers.

There were also special awards given to Jigar Naik and Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald, whose contribution to Leicestershire County Cricket Club has been outstanding over the years.

Naik was presented with a silver fox by Chief Executive Wasim Khan MBE while McDonald received a personalised Twenty20 shirt from Chairman Paul Haywood on a night compered by BBC Radio Leicester’s Ian Stringer in the Charles Palmer Suite.

Leicestershire CCC would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our sponsors, both for their fantastic continued support of the club and for making the event a memorable one.

* Leicestershire CCC also congratulates Amna Rafiq for winning a trophy at the Asian Cricket Awards last night. Amna, who is the club’s Community Engagement Officer, won the Behind The Scenes award at the ceremony at the Kia Oval for her fantastic work in the community.

Full list of winners:

1. John Josephs Award - Best individual performance in a first XI match – Ned Eckersley v Derbyshire

2. Livingston Cup - Batting in the First XI – Mark Cosgrove

3. Frank S Smith Cup - Bowling in the First XI – Clint McKay

4. Roger Goadby - Outstanding fielding performance in the first XI – Lewis Hill

5. Young Player of the Year – Rob Sayer

6. County Championship Player Of The Year - nominations Mark Cosgrove, Neil Dexter and Clint McKay. Winner: Mark Cosgrove

7. One-Day Player Of The Year – nominations Mark Pettini, Kevin O’Brien and Mark Cosgrove. Winner: Kevin O’Brien

8. T20 Player Of The Year – nominations Mark Pettini, Lewis Hill, Clint McKay and Mark Cosgrove. Winner: Clint McKay

9. Players’ Player Of The Year – Ollie Freckingham

10. Cricketer Of The Year – Mark Cosgrove